4 h. ago What I saw at Saturday’s rally was racism, pure and simple. Labour won’t tackle it until we can call it what it is

What I saw at Saturday’s rally was racism, pure and simple. Labour won’t tackle it until we can call it what it is  The Guardian

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5 h. ago What I saw at Saturday’s rally was racism, pure and simple. Labour won’t tackle it until we can call it what it is | Diane Abbott

Silence about the bigotry inherent in events like Tommy Robinson’s march will be seen by the thugs as tacit approval of their messageI have been on a great many political marches in my time. But Saturday’s rally, facing up to Tommy Robinson’s 110,000-strong “unite the kingdom” march in London, was the only one where I actually felt threatened.I was on the anti-racist counter march and we were outnumbered 20 to one. This was startling: on anti-racist marches, we usually easily outnumber the racists. The march organised by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was billed as “a free speech rally”, but free speech in this case seemed to mean people saying anything they wanted about only one subject: immigration.Diane Abbott has been the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters sectio...

Events

53 h. ago Met Police to put 1,600 officers on streets as London braces for violence ahead of Tommy Robinson protest

Thousands of people are expected at the far-right activist’s ‘free speech’ rally on Saturday, while Stand Up To Racism UK has organised a counter-demonstration

Events

56 h. ago Met Police calls in reinforcements and reassures Muslim Londoners ahead of Tommy Robinson protest

Thousands of people are expected at the far-right activist’s ‘free speech’ rally on Saturday, while Stand Up To Racism UK has organised a counter-demonstration

Events

1 week ago This is a disaster unfolding in plain sight. Each day Keir Starmer is smoothing Nigel Farage’s path to No 10 | Owen Jones

A simple, terrible and obvious mistake is being made. The more Labour echoes Reform’s talking points, the more it strengthens themBritain isn’t sleepwalking into catastrophe; it’s charging towards it. Last year, a violent rightwing uprising tore through our streets – an attempted pogrom in which racists tried to burn asylum seekers alive, attacked homes and businesses thought to belong to migrants, petrol-bombed mosques and assaulted people of colour in broad daylight. That disgrace should hang permanently around the necks of the anti-migrant right, a warning of where scapegoating and toxic lies lead.Instead, the revolt succeeded. Anti-migrant rhetoric in politics and the press has grown more venomous. Reform UK now tops polls by a decisive margin. Its leader, Nigel Farage, raises the spectre of “major civil disorder” unless anti-migrant demands are met. Lucy Connolly – who was jailed after calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire and is married to a former Conser...

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1 week ago My seven simple steps to help protect your savings from Labour's coming tax raid: JEFF PRESTRIDGE

Not only is our right to use cash Isas to shelter savings from tax under threat, but there will be no unfreezing of the Personal Savings Allowance.

Economics

2 w. ago Voices: My son’s lucrative summer jobs should be a warning sign for British industry

It isn’t just that unemployment has hit an all-time high – up 500,000 since Keir Starmer took office – businesses are being stymied by hiring freezes, the hospitality sector is increasingly reliant on agency staff, and the number of NEETs is on the rise. Under Labour, Britain simply isn’t working, says Chris Blackhurst

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